where do I find the temp folder on a Mac?

[Sarah Reichelt]

>> Beeing not a Mac guy, I don't know where I find the temp folder on a Mac.
>> I
>> used the specialfolderpath("temp") and according to Kens website (@Eric: I
>> used the docs!) it is supposed to be: /private/tmp/501/Temporary Items,
>> but
>> I don't see it. Actually I don't even find the "private" path. Is it
>> hidden,
>> and if yes, how to show it?
>
> obviously there are more than ONE temp folder on OS X and they may be even
> different on other machines!
>
> 1.
> put specialfolderpath("temp") -> /Users/klaus/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems
>
> BUT:
> 2.
> put the tempname ->
> /private/var/folders/lK/lKjzn8FMEkS6hmXTm6HEDE+++TQ/TemporaryItems/tmp0
>
> VERY cryptic = geeky :-)


I have found 3 different temporary folders. Try this command in the message box:
    put specialFolderPath("temp") & cr & the tempname & cr & $TMPDIR

It gives me:

/Users/sarah/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems
/private/var/folders/vF/vFLJdnX0Er44KsbRytuL1U+++TI/TemporaryItems/tmp2
/var/folders/vF/vFLJdnX0Er44KsbRytuL1U+++TI/-Tmp-/

So my question is: which one should I use?
In my case, I need it to catch the output from a shell command running
in the background.
So the shell needs to be able to write, my Rev app needs to be able to
read, and preferably to delete the file afterwards to tidy up.

I have been using $TMPDIR and that works fine, but
specialFolderPath("temp") looks a lot nicer.

Are they all functionally the same or are there any differences,
particularly if running a non-admin account?

Cheers,
Sarah